To Seek Glory

John 7:14-18

"Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews there were amazed and asked, 'How did this man get such learning without having been taught?'
Jesus answered, 'My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.'"

We have grown up this way. It has in reality shaped the nature of our culture and is pervasive throughout media, employment, and life planning. The storing up and accumulating of accomplishments to better one’s position is not a new business practice and has been an effective model since the days we got ‘gold star’s’ for completing our assignments on time or with excellence. We have the instilled desire to gain for ourselves, to better or position, or whatever name you might want to use for our pursuit after personal glory.

This motivation has become so entwined in our lives that it shapes the very things that we do, even to the smallest extent. We study hard to…get good grades…to get accepted into a good college…to achieve a degree…to land a prestigious job…to accumulate a greater amount of wealth…to purchase more opportunities to become bigger, greater, faster, stronger. All the while, we do things to bolster what? self.

This is not uncommon. Actually, this is very common. Consider the very first humans to exist, Adam and Eve. Talk about having it made, right!? An intimate, personal, walk with the creator of existence, the authority over all of the earth, power over the animals and every living thing, and even a wife without sin (cool) that was created as a helper for him (cooler). Who could ask for more? Well, Adam and Eve did. The serpent told them ‘you could have more’ ‘you can better yourself’ ‘you will be like God in what you know’ and so in Chapter 3:6 of Genesis we read “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate it.”

At the very basic level, both Adam and Eve chose personal glory over God’s goodness. Through their actions, they said “God, we don’t trust that you have our best interests at heart.” And so they ate.

Romans 5:12-21
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-- for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the One to come.

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification."

Adam brought a curse of sin and death upon himself and his family because of his disobedience and rejection of God’s goodness. Sin entered the world and as promised “man surely died.” Just as one man brought death and condemnation, Another man, Jesus of Nazareth, would be given the Spirit of God to bring justification and restore man back to God.

Jesus existed differently than all others. Everything that Jesus did was for, and in response to, the Father. Jesus did not exist for personal gain or selfish motivations.

What is gut-wrechingly convicting is that I will ask God to make me more like his son, Jesus. I will even teach that we should be Christ-like, but I am and we are so far removed from living like Christ because we are so preoccupied with bettering our self and our position. Consider our desire for new, fashionable clothes, making the starting line-up on our sports team, even our dreams of “our” future.

I’m sure that I often speak to our youth from my own strength and my own words. I ‘minister’ from my own power with motivations to increase, look better, and be thought of favorably all in the name of Jesus and ministry; when ultimately the fuel that is driving my crusade is, well, wet kindling…just a lot of smoke.

We need a different fuel. How about an explosion? How about dynamite? O! O! Me! Yes, please! The Lord highlighted that image to me during a sermon Pastor Roy was giving last week. As we were reading Acts 1:8 where it explains that “we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." This power described here comes from the greek word duname from where we derive our word dynamite.

I think that if we were truly ready to live ‘like Jesus’ we had better hold on because an explosion would be imminent. God’s power is given in the measure that we submit our will’s to His will…and it’s not always about us!

Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.”